Attachment for governors.



J. R. 1101mm.- ATTAGHMENT FOR GOVERNORS.

APPLIOATION FILED I'EB. 14, 1911.

1,025,061. Patented Apr.30, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES 0 ggm BY .I NVENTOR,

ATTO R N EY V COLUMBIA I'LANOGRAPM w" WASHINGTON. D. c.

JQR. HODGEN. ATTACHMENT FOR GOVERNORS.

V APPLIUATION FILED FEB-14, 1911. I 1,025,06 1 Patented Apr. 30, 1912.

2 SHEETSSHBET 2.

INVENTOR,

efdmeaRJiodgcm WITNESSES ATTO R N EY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES RILEY HODGEN, OF ATMORE, ALABAMA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN STRICKLAND, OF ATMORE, ALABAMA.

ATTACHMEFTT non GOVERNORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 30, 1912.

Application filed February 14, 1311. Serial No. 608,566.

citizen of the United States, residing at Ati more, in the county of Escanaba and State of Alabama, have invented a new and useful Attachment for Governors, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to an attachment for steam engine governors.

The ordinary steam engine governor fails to act quickly when increased load is thrown on the engine, and hence the power of the latter is checked and considerable time must elapse before it can attain its former speed. In other words, if an increased load is thrown on an engine the speed of motion at once diminishes because the governor balls (owing mainly to the influence of centrifugal action and, in part, to friction of the working parts) cannot fall and open the valve instantly so as to at once increase the area of the steam passage, and thereby allow the steam to act on the piston with full force. I

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple, efficient and practical attachment of comparatively inexpensive construction, adapted to supplement the action of a steam engine governor, and capable, when an engine is suddenly subjected to an increased load, of operating'instantly to increase the area of the steam passage and of thereby maintaining a uniform velocity of the steam engine under all conditions and of correspondingly increasing the power of the engine.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the construction and novel combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended; it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size and minor details of construction, within the scope of the claims, may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings :Figure 1 is a side elevation of a stationary engine, equipped with a governor attachment, constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing another form of connection between the belt tightener and the lever 0f the governor. Fig. 3

is a vertical sectional view of the governor. Flg, 4 1s a detail view of the belt't'ightener.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawlngs.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred form of the invention, 1

designates the belt tightener comprising in its construction an inclined pivotal frame or member 2, connected at its upper end by hinges 3 to an over-head support 4, which may be the ceiling of the room in which the engine is installed, or any other suitable support. The frame is preferably composed of spaced side bars, connected by transverse bars 5 and 6 and provided at their lower ends with suitable bearings 7 for a transverse shaft 8 of a tightener pulley 9, which rests upon the upper stretch or flight 10 of a belt 11, which connects the band or fly wheel 12 of a stationary engine 13 with a pulley let of a driver or power shaft 15. The driver or power shaft 15 is mounted in suitable shaft hangers 16 of any desired construction, located above the steam engine and in advance of'the belt tightener. The lower stretch or flight 17 of the belt 11 travels in the direction of the arrow and when the engine is subjected to an increased load, the lower stretch or flight 17 of the belt is drawn taut, and the upper flight 10 is slackened and permits the tightener to fall. In order that the variations in the upper flight or stretch 10 of the belt 11 and the movementsof the tightener may operate the governor valve, the tightener is connected with the lever 18 of the governor, which may be of any ordinary construction.

In the governor illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the lever 18 is fulcrumed at an intermediate point on a supporting arm or bracket 19, and one of its arms eX- tends through an opening 20 of the stem or connection 21 of the governor valve, and the other arm is equipped with an adjustable counter-balancing weight 22. The arm of the governor lever 18, which actuates the valve stem and the governor valve, is connected by a wire, rod, or other suitable connection 23 with a horizontal arm of a bell crank lever 24:, fulcrumed at its angle in an overhead bracket or hanger 25, and having its other arm arranged vertically and connected by a horizontal wire, rod, or other suitable connection 26 with a vertical arm of a bell crank lever 27. The connection 23 extends upward from the lever of the governor, and the bell crank lever 27, which is mounted in a suit-able bracket or hanger 28, has its other arm arranged horizontally and con nected by a turn buckle 29 with a slide 30 of an approximately horizontal rod 31. The turn buckle is adapted to vary the length of the connections between the tightener and the lever of the governor.

The slide 30 consists of a sleeve and is equipped with a set screw 82, and the rod 31 is secured at its end 33 to the tightener frame at a point intermediate the ends thereof, and its other end is supported by a vertical arm 3 1, secured at its lower end to the tightener frame and provided at its upper end with an eye through which the rod 31 passes. The slide 30 is adjustable along the horizontal rod 31 to vary the effective stroke of the tightener frame and its consequent movement of the governor valve. Then the tightener frame oscillates through the action of the belt, motion is communicated to the lever 18 of the governor through the medium of the connections between the two parts. The form of connections between the belt tightener and the lever of the governor may be varied, and in Fig. 2 of the drawings a continuous flexible connection 35 extends from the lever 18 to the turn buckle 29, being guided by spaced over-head pulleys 36 and 37, mounted in suitable blocks and hung from the over-head support 1.

The operation of the attachment is as follows z-lVhen the engine is running without much change in the load or draft, the governor controls its action in the usual way, but if the load be considerably and suddenly increased, the engine will be at once slackened because the governor will not act quickly enough to instantly open the valve and thus allow admission of the full head of the steam to the piston-cylinder for the purpose of counter-acting or opposing the tendency to retardation of velocity. This function is performed by my attachment in the following manner: When the increased load is thrown on the engine, the rotation of the power shaft is diminished proportionately so that the lower half or stretch 17 of the belt will be thereby suddenly subjected to increased tension and drawn taut, while the upper half will be simultaneously slackened. The tightener pulley follows the action of the upper half or stretch 10 of the belt 11 and thereby drops slightly, pulling upon the connections between the tightener and the lever 18 so that the governor valve is opened instantly, allowing free admission of steam to the steam chest. The increased pressure of steam in the cylinder instantly adds to the power and tends to accelerate the speed the belt when increased load is thrown on the engine controls the effect of the attachment on the valve. The tightener may be arranged in any other desired position with relation to belt, and it may also operate in connection with the lower half of the belt and the connections between the tightener and the lever of the governor will be changed to correspond with the arrangement of the tightener.

The terms connections or flexible connections in the claims are intended to cover either a rope passing over pulleys, as shown in Fig. 2, or the wire with bell crank levers shown in Fig. 1.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An attachment for governors including an inclined belt tightener hinged at its upper end and arranged to bear against the upper flight of a belt, flexible connections extending upwardly from the lever of the governor to a point above the belt and then longitudinally thereof to a point above the tightener and then downwardly therefrom to the tightener, and means for attaching the said flexible connections adjustably to the tightener so as to allow for the longitudinal adjustment of said connections toward and from the free end of the tight ener.

2. An attachment for governors including a pivotal member having a pulley to bear against a belt and adapted to be actuated by variations in the said belt, a rod carried by the pivotal frame and extending longitudinally thereof, a slide adjustable along the rod, and connections between the slide and the lever of a governor.

3. An attachment for governors includ ing a pivotal member having a pulley to bear against a belt and actuated by variations in the same, a device adjust-able along the pivotal member to vary the effective stroke of the same, and connections extending from the adjustable device to the lever of a governor and having adjusting means for varying the length of the said connections.

4. An attachment for governors including a belt tightener comprising an inclined frame hinged at the top, a pulley mounted in the lower end of the frame and arranged to bear against the belt, an approximately horizontal rod secured at one end to the frame, an arm mounted on the frame and In testimony, that I claim the foregoing supporting the other end of the rod, a slide as my own, I have hereto afi'ixed my sig- 10 adjustable along the rod and having means nature in the presence of two witnesses.

for engaging the same, and means for connecting the slide with the lever of a gover- JAMES RILEY HODGEN' nor, whereby the movement of the belt Witnesses:

tightener will actuate the valve of the gov- J NO. C. CROWELL,

ernor. W. R. LAMONT.

Conies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. 0. 

